Treacherous traveling in and around Winnebago County tonight

ROCKFORD - Slick roads have led to roadway havoc tonight as scores of accidents continue to occur throughout Winnebago and surrounding counties.

The crashes, none of which involved life-threatening injuries, had cars, SUVs and school buses sliding off roadways, vehicles struggling to drive up hills and unable to stop going downhill, jack-knifed semis, and numerous vehicles sliding into one another.

Seventy-five to 100 accidents occurred on Illinois 173 alone, prompting the closure of the state route between Poplar Grove and Capron, a Boone County dispatcher said.

First-responders in multiple jurisdictions found themselves in fender-benders trying to respond to motorists, and shortly before 9 p.m., an ambulance was involved in a crash at Auburn Road and Horsman Street in Rockford.

The weather-related wrecks are the result of above-freezing temperatures and just less than an inch of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Bardou said.

"Any surface that wasn't cleaned to the pavement or had any residue on it became slippery," he said. "The other thing is it's been so cold for so long, the ground surface is still cold and it's (freezing) the rain on contact."

Officials with Illinois State Police districts 16 and 1 urged motorists to stay off roadways if possible during the rush-hour commute home.

"We are receiving reports of hundreds of crashes and vehicles that have slid off of the roadways," District 16 Interim Commander John Biffany said in a news release. "We have at least 50 calls for assistance pending. We are urging motorists to avoid traveling if at all possible until the roadways can be adequately cleared."

About the same time, the Rockford Police Department activated its emergency-accident plan, which means if your car can be driven from a crash scene and no one is injured, you must exchange information with the other driver and then come to the Public Safety Building within three days to make a crash report.